Cloud Cover Expected to Raise Night Temperatures

A warming cloud cover that settled over the area Monday evening was expected to keep tempera tures above critical levels for the next several days, allowing farmers who had been told to expect a freeze to sleep a little easier, forecasters said.

“The cloud cover will act like a blanket to keep the area warm,” said Terry Schaeffer, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Santa Paula.

A series of cold fronts from Alaska cooled the area over the weekend, but nighttime temperatures remained in the 30s, Schaeffer said.

Daytime temperatures were expected to remain in the 60s and 70s, warming through the end of the week, with nighttime temperatures in the 30s in most areas.

Temperatures in the canyons and coldest pockets of the county could dip into the high 20s if the cloud cover breaks, but Schaeffer said the cold periods would be short and not harmful to crops.

“It’s been beneficial,” he said of the recent cool nights. “It helps color the oranges.”

Richard Pidduck, who grows 75 acres of citrus and avocados in Santa Paula Canyon, among the areas susceptible to the lowest temperatures in the county, agreed that the recent cool weather is good for healthy trees.

“It will help harden off the trees,” he said. “It slows down the growth and allows the trees to withstand colder weather later because they are not in a flush of growth.”

Pidduck was among the hardest hit of the county’s growers in the December, 1990, freeze that sent temperatures plummeting into the 20s for hours at a time and cost the county $128 million in crop and tree damage.

Bob Pinkerton, a Santa Paula area citrus rancher, said he didn’t expect the orchard temperature alarm that sounds in his bedroom to be activated Monday night or tonight.

‘A s long as it stays like this with an overcast ceiling and a light breeze, we’re in good shape,” he said.

Schaeffer said no rain is expected at least until next month.

Although the county ended October with rainfall countywide averaging 388% of normal for the time of year, November has been a dry month, said William C. Minger, a Ventura County Public Works Agency hydrographer.

If the county receives no new rainfall before the end of November, the level at the County Government Center in Ventura would drop to 85% of normal for the time of year, he said.